[1] Abdullāh ibn al-‘Abbās had advised Amīr al-mu’minīn to issue a letter of appointment to Ṭalḥah and az-Zubayr as the Governors of Kūfah and to retain Mu‘āwiyah as the Governor of Syria till such time as his position became stabilized and the government gained strength. In reply to which Amīr al-mu’minīn said that he could not expose his own religion to danger for the sake of the worldly benefit of others, adding that “therefore instead of insisting on your own point you should listen to me and obey me.”